The ongoing search for home hair dye, without reddish hints

[BurningBriquette]

I have (if I do say so myself, preening) a fab new hairstyle. Brunette, naturally curly, choppy and just at my shoulders. My hair stylist is wonderful, but I'm not prepared to pay the £££ for salon dying just yet - so I hope you wonderful stylish people can help me.

I am after a beautiful dark brown, glossy slightly tonal finish from a home dying kit. Without red hints! This seems to be the tricky part. Anything I have tried in the past has a slight red or blackberry undertone (if that makes sense?). I think I would prefer semi permanent, but for the right product might just dare to go permanent (such a wild risk-taker).

I have a few grey hairs (always have for some reason), have quite pale skin in the winterl, but then immediately tan/olive when the sun hits it. Dark eyebrows too. Please - any recommendations for products to try would be grand, as I find myself staring at the kits in a dull zombie like fashion.

all dyes that fade will fade to red because the underlying hair has been lifted to red by the peroxide in the developer

an ash toned dye shouldnt be red before it starts to fade
some kind of ash/cool brown might work?

Inoa in the 5.0 shade has no red in it whatsoever, perfect ash brown.

It's a salon dye but you can buy it on amazon, just need to buy the developer too.

After trying it i never went back to supermarket dyes that fade on the roots in a week and build up on the ends. With the inoa one my ends are lighter than my roots - just like natural hair!

Thank you Shining and Le - looking at Inoa now.

My hair is very dark naturally - do you think an ash Brown would 'take' and give a noticeable lift and cover the odd grey? I've only ever really thought of ash in terms of blonde (inexperienced dyer).

'ash' or 'cool' denotes greenish tones, rather than the depth of colour

ime medium ash brown actually comes out very dark...do a strand test first to avoid making mistakes

in hindsight I personally would just stick with my natural colour and 'embrace' the grey...but you might not be ready for that

Thanks LaCerbiatta - is the Inoa quite easy to mix? Do you have any tips for application?

Does anyone have any experience of Majiral? I this no it's a salon dye.

I used a garnier nutrisse recently in 5.0. I think it was medium brown but it came out lovely dark brown and no red tones. I have naturally red hair and need ash tones to kill the red.

Very easy to mix. It's a 1:1 mix (developer:dye) and you just need a bowl to mix and a brush to apply.
I hate the build up on the ends so apply to the roots, leave for 25mins, comb the hair and leave for another 10mins.
My hair is light brown and I mix 5.0 with 6.0
I'll see if I can post a pic.

Here's a picture

I use Polycolour tint, no red tints at all in their browns, very natural looking

I 2nd Shwarzkopf Poly Colour tint, their natural brown & medium brown are quite neutral browns & at £2 a box, a bargain. They are permanent, but I've yet to come across a colourant that is truly permanent & doesn't fade somewhat.

Thank you LaCerbiatta - beautiful hair.

Thanks all - really appreciate the tips. I shall be getting the latex clothes on this week and hoping not to dye the tiles in my bathroom..m

Clothes = gloves!

I use majirel - no red tones.
They do a cool cover range for this.

Thanks Hey, is Majirel easy to mix and use?

Yes really easy - I mix with a cream peroxide so it's much thicker to apply so no drips.
There are instructions in the box.
It's lightened a little bit - but it is summer time so to be expected. No reddish/orange haze though.